Chris Nowinski

Chris Nowinski is the co-founder and CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF), a non-profit organization dedicated to solving the sports concussion crisis through education, policy, and research.

He is also a co-founder of the Boston University (BU) CTE Center, where he serves as the Outreach, Recruitment, Education, and Public Policy Leader, and has led the growth of the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, a partnership with BU and the US Department of Veterans Affairs and now the largest CTE brain repository in the world. He is a Ph.D. candidate in Behavioral Neuroscience at Boston University School of Medicine.

Nowinski’s passion for brain trauma research and advocacy stems from personal experience. He was All-Ivy defensive tackle for the Harvard University football team and performed for WWE before post-concussion syndrome forced him to retire in 2003. After learning about concussions and their serious consequences from his treating physician Dr. Robert Cantu, he wrote the book Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis in 2006, in an effort to educate the world about this under recognized public health issue. In 2012, the book was adapted for the documentary film of the same name, Head Games, directed by Steve James.

Nowinski is committed to rapidly expanding the public’s understanding of the effects of concussion and brain trauma through the media and other educational platforms; for example, he holds the record for original features on HBO Real Sports with seven, and provides the voiceover for the US Centers for Disease Control concussion education videos.

Nowinski serves on the NFL Players Association Mackey-White TBI Committee, the Ivy League Concussion Committee, Positive Coaching Alliance National Advisory Board, is a consultant to Major League Lacrosse, and is an Eisenhower Fellow.